Convertible furniture has long been known as a way to conserve floor and living space while providing temporary sleeping accommodations. It appears that William L. Murphy invented what is commonly known as the “Murphy bed” or the “wall bed” (these terms being used interchangeably herein) in the early 1900's, and versions of his design are still used today. The basic Murphy bed consists of a bed frame with a standard mattress. The bed frame pivots about an axis at or near the head of the bed from a stowed position in which the frame and mattress are juxtaposed to the wall to a horizontal sleeping position. To assist the user in raising and lowering the bed, these beds generally employ a system of torsion or extension springs to counterbalance the weight. Most of these beds are enclosed in a cabinet-type stationary furnishing enclosure that hides the bed, provides attachment to the floor and/or wall, and provides a structure from which to hinge the bed and the counterbalance system.
Although the basic concept of the Murphy or wall bed has not changed a great deal since the early versions, a number of patents listed below show that development has continued in two primary areas: First, since the beds to date are quite heavy many attempts have been made to find improved ways to suspend the weight of the bed as it is pulled down off the wall. Secondly, since the Murphy beds to date are relatively large pieces of furniture, numerous attempts have been made to convert them into more useful furnishings when in a stowed position.
The following patents are generally relevant to the subject matter of this invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 182,544 Sep. 26, 1876 D. Arnaud
U.S. Pat. No. 675,702 Jun. 4, 1901 Adams
U.S. Pat. No. 1,015,318 Jan. 23, 1912 Javins
U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,202 May 29, 1956 Driver
U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,245 Dec. 28, 1976 Bue et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,518 Sep. 22, 1987 Lukich et al
U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,623 Aug. 30, 1988 Beilhoffer et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,558 Aug. 6, 1991 Lameka et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,737 Aug. 11, 1992 Reppas
U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,932 Sep. 5, 1995 Voorhis
U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,392 Jun. 18, 2002 Schwalbe, Jr.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,526 Jan. 21, 2003 Reppas
Since, as noted, the design of Murphy or wall beds has not changed significantly through the years, certain fundamental limitations on the basic design of the Murphy bed, as generally exemplified by one or more of the patents listed above, remain as follows: (1) Existing wall beds still take up a significant amount of floor space, generally between 18″ to 24″ from the wall times the width of the bed, or between 6-8 square feet of living space. This is a substantial loss of valuable space in small apartments, for example. Furthermore, such bulky objects cannot be disguised as an attractive wall treatment, for example. (2) Most existing wall beds require fixation to the floor, leaving scars and holes in precious floor finishes or carpets; that is, the weight of standard wall beds makes it structurally impossible to attach them to standard walls without being supported on the floor or requiring modification of the wall structure. (3) Since the existing wall beds have full mattresses and heavy frames it is difficult to engineer counterbalancing systems to assist the lowering of these beds. (4) Since most of the Murphy style beds are 18-24″ off the wall and encased in a closet or cabinet structure, while lying in bed one's head is substantially enclosed, giving some a claustrophobic feeling. (5) Since most wall beds are stowed in an armoire/cabinet one needs to open the doors of the cabinet when in a sleep position. This requires space on both sides of the bed into which the doors can be opened. (6) Existing Murphy beds by and large do not have box springs, or if they have a suspension system it is usually a saggy, uncomfortable assembly of wire and springs. (7) Existing Murphy beds do not have a mechanism to slow the rise of the bed as it reaches the vertical, thus creating a situation where fingers could get pinched and the bed could slam against the back of the cabinet. This is especially true since most wall beds are being pulled back vigorously by the counterbalancing mechanism at the top of the pivoting movement. (8) Existing wall beds only rely on the built-in counter balancing system of weights or a spring system to hold the bed in the vertical closed position. If a spring, pulley, or attachment breaks the bed could come down in a dangerous manner.
Thus, there remain many deficiencies in the known wall or Murphy beds.